Marine Environmental Sciences Consortium

The Goals of This Project Are to Quantify Carcass-discovery Rate (CDR) of Bottlenose Dolphins (tursiops Truncatus) in Alabama, an Understudied Area Along the Northern Gulf of Mexico Coast, and Test the Use of Unoccupied Aerial Systems (UASS) as an Emerging Technology to Enhance Traditional Marine Mammal Stranding Surveillance. Specific Objectives Are to 1) Quantify CDR in Different Seasons, Habitat Types, and Levels of Human Use on Dauphin Island, Al to Determine Multipliers for Calculating Mortality in the Study Area; 2) Compare CDR by the Public and Trained Stranding Network Responders to Measure the Effect of Formal Training and Targeted Search Efforts and Evaluate the Success of Almmsn Education and Outreach Efforts; and 3) for Trained Stranding Network Responders, Compare Carcass-detection Rates Between Traditional (e.g. by Foot, Atv, and Boat) and Uas Methods to Quantify Any Benefits of Using This Emerging Technology.